Hawk in the Streets, #Synergy in the Sheets - [SOCR3] 9th

This is the deck I played in the 3rd Stimhack Online Cache Refresh tournament. Though I was aiming to make the cut for the third time, my piloting skills let me down (and I admit they're in need of continued development). I went with Exile over other choices because I'm not a fan of 5 cost engines, I think card draw options are lacking in CR and Exile has some built-in, and he also has good synergies with Scavenge/Clone Chip, which synergize with Reaver and new-to-the-format Imp; but most importantly because I'd played the Anarch and Criminal 1-link big box runners in the last two tournaments and had to complete the trio. I ended up at 2-2, but don't think that's the deck's fault - it has everything it needs to compete.

I decided to write game recaps each week, but I do have a couple additional notes at the end if you'd prefer to skip these.

R1 vs @charliexavier on AgI - I had Imp and money early game, but no SMC. He sets up a double ice single facedown remote. I think it's Musashi, so I don't bother running it since I can always Imp an agenda and go for it in archives after more prep time. It sits facedown for a bit; I put down Imp, poke HQ and get an access through Miraju, then poke R&D and there's no rez on 4 credits - so I guess it's a more expensive ice. I then access the Snare! on top of R&D, but I don't feel too bad about it since I survived and he's on 0 now. Next turn I run R&D 3 times and get a Nisei, and Imp a Preemptive action. He then gets a Marilyn Campaign ticking in a second iced server, and gets off a Hedge Fund, so I back off on the aggressive runs and start digging for breakers. Now that he's stabilized, the facedown remote is revealed to be MCA Austerity Policy - bad news for me! He lets the MCA go up to 3 counters; I still don't have enough breakers to contest the remote directly, but HQ is still only protected by Miraju. I use my 3 clicks to run HQ through Miraju, hoping he'll be scared enough to shuffle away his agendas and give me more time; I access The Future Perfect, bid 0 so that I can Imp it and Lamprey him on archives, but instead I just win the psi game. So I run again, and my very next access is Obokata, and I have 3 cards (I had a clone chip out, so if I had thought ahead I could have won right there) so I Imp it. Next turn it's pretty easy to grab out of Archives for the win. After the game I found out my opponent was actually trying to shuffle away agendas, but was just drawing more with Miraju! So in the end a very lucky power turn gets me the win with Imp doing a lot of work.

R2 vs @thebigunit3000 on PU - I stick to my main gameplan, but commit to keeping up the number of cards in my hand because I've had too many net damage deaths from running recklessly. tbu3k plays excellently, getting an early HoK; I snag the second, but the Shipment from SanSan'd third HoK immediately made the game much harder. Shipment from SanSan scores him a Braintrust as well; I get to 6 points on an Indexing-Mad Dash through Kakugo, which just about clears the rest of my deck. I do have a chance for one more access on HQ, though I doubt there were any agendas there due to my opponent's excellent jamming. I access Breached Dome with 0 cards in hand and deck for the loss. I was on 6 points, but in the end it really wasn't close! Really cohesive gameplan keeping me from wanting to run with consistent net damage.

R3 vs @Ghost Meat on Sol - This went pretty much how you'd expect a Diesel/Sure Gamblex2/SMC/Stimhack opener to go vs Sol that can't find one of its currents. Diesel even draws into Reaver, so the persistent card draw gets me all the answers I need as I single access for 4 points and then Indexing-Mad Dash for the W. Cyber-cypher on the Tollbooth remote let me trash 3 campaigns in 3 turns; this game was just about starting ahead and keeping it that way (AKA getting very lucky). I got good value out of my 1 link, and I will from now on use this single example to justify my criteria for ID choice.

R4 vs @YankeeFlatline on Tennin - YF's deck was great, and he played really well - really well-paced economy, and from that, he was always threatening to score and with nasty ice. On my end, this deck has the card draw I need not to die, Imp as an out against Obokata, good breakers vs Jinteki ice, and he's not PU so there's less risk I'd deck out like before. Bonus points because I love making lots of runs, so Tennin's ability and shipment from tennin don't scare me. In the end, I feel like I kind of dropped the ball - if I had won, I'd be in the cut for the third straight tournament. All credit to my opponent who won cleanly, but there was lots I could have done to win. I'm not a very strong player yet, so I'm only seeing the correct lines with hindsight, but after grabbing an Obokata out of HQ on a single access I should have stopped going for as many single HQ accesses as I did. I should have baited out a turn where I could Imp Obokata out of the remote and then Mad Dashed archives the next turn, or set up a turn where I could run R&D three times with an Indexing and Mad Dash if possible.

A fun deck with a lot of moving parts and the right tools to compete with any deck; throw in tech cards if you're worried about specific decks. With the first pack of Kitara, this deck loses Reaver, Paperclip, and The Gauntlet; I think Reaver is actually one of the most important cards for this deck, so since this deck is already a questionable choice over Mopus Shaper, CR rotation will certainly tip in favor of Mopus. But hey, you get a lot of influence back!

If you're still reading this and thinking about entering the next CR tournament, definitely do - I don't think I'm the only one looking forward to a meta without Mumbad and Flashpoint!

Thanks to all my opponents for the fun games, and thanks to @fightingwalloon for organizing these tournaments!